Includes index

All chapters conclude with "Summary" and "Notes." Preface. 1.Politics, Rationalism, and Social Welfare. Politics and Social Welfare Policy.Illustration 1-1: Special Tips for the Legislative Process.The Policymaking Process.The American Public and Social Welfare.Illustration 1-2: We Can Take Care of Our Own...or Can We?2.Government and Social Welfare. Historical Perspectives on Social Welfare.Illustration 2-1: The Revolution No One Noticed.The Expansion of Social Welfare.Finances in the Welfare State.Illustration 2-2: Intelligence Report: Our Low Taxes.The Legacy of "Reaganomics."Helping the "Truly Needy."The Presidential Years of Bill Clinton.3.Defining Poverty: Where to Begin? What Is Poverty?Poor and Homeless: Not Invisible Anymore.Illustration 3-1: Homeless in Paradise.Illustration 3-2: Pam Jackson's New Apartment.A Fundamental Shift.4.Preventing Poverty: The Social Insurance Programs. Preventing Poverty through Compulsory Savings.Illustration 4-1: Social Security - Who Qualifies, and How Much Do Beneficiaries Receive?Illustration 4-2: Will You Reap What You Sow?Unemployment Compensation.Workers' Compensation.5.Helping the "Deserving Poor": Aged, Blind, and Disabled. Public Assistance for the Deserving Poor.Illustration 5-1: Example of What Happens When You Are Disabled.Rehabilitative Services for Individuals with Disabilities.The Era of Civil Rights for People with Disabilities.Illustration 5-2: What Is Reasonable Accommodation for People with Disabilities?Disability Policy for Children.Building a Better Policy on Disability.Illustration 5-3: Guidance from the EEOC in Implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act in Cases of Psychiatric Impairment.General Assistance: The State and Community Response to Welfare.Federalism and Social Welfare.6.Ending Welfare as We Knew It: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. From Mothers' Aid to AFDC.Trying to Make Parents Pay.Welfare and Work.Illustration 6-1: What Mothers and Fathers Think about Child Support Enforcement.Why the Fuss about AFDC?Illustration 6-2: Why Mother Slapped Me.Illustration 6-3: The Unreported Work of Mothers Receiving Public Assistance.An End to Welfare as We Knew It.7.Fighting Hunger: Nutrition Policy and Programs in the United States. Malnutrition Amid Plenty.Setting Nutritional Policy.Tightening Food Stamps' Belt: The Welfare Reform of 1996.Food Stamp Program Operations.Nutrition Programs for Younger, Older, and Disabled Veterans.Illustration 7-1: A Client's View of the Food Stamp Program.Nutritional Politics.Illustration 7-2: The Thrifty Food Plan - How Much Is It Worth?8.Improving Health Care: Treating the Nation's Ills. Good Health or Medical Attention?Health Care Policy Today.What Ails Medicine?Illustration 8-1: A Proposed Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.The Politics of Health Care for All.Health Care - Some Ethical Dilemmas9.Changing Paradigms in the Poverty Wars: Victories, Defeats, and Stalemates. The Curative Strategy in the 1960s War on Poverty.Illustration 9-1: Community Development: A Foundation Perspective.LBJ and the Economic Opportunity Act.Politics Overtake the War on Poverty.Why Hasn't Head Start "Cured" Poverty?Fueling Employment: Make-Work versus the Real Thing.Illustration 9-2: Report Card on Empowerment Zones.Building Communities through Service.10.Providing Social Services: Help for Children, the Elderly, and People with Mental Illness. Social Services in the United States.Social Services for People with ADM Problems.The Rights of Mental Health Service Consumers.Illustration 10-1: Needle-Exchange Programs in the U.S.A.: Time to Act Now.Child Welfare Policy.Illustration 10-2: What to Do about Helping People with Severe Mental Illness.Illustration 10-3: Little Mary Ellen.Social Services for Older Americans.11.Challenging Social Welfare: Racism and Sexism. Gender Inequities.Illustration 11-1: Women in Federal and State Offices.Illustration 11-2: A Call for Lustiness: Just Say No to the Sex Police.Gay Rights.Blacks, Hispanics, and Social Welfare.Illustration 11-3: A Dialogue on Race.Native Americans and Social Welfare.Immigration and Social Welfare.12.Implementing and Evaluating Social Welfare Policy: What Happens after a Law Is Passed. The Politics of Implementation.Evaluating Social Policy.Illustration 12-1: Rational Evaluation: What Questions to Ask.Illustration 12-2: Is Theory-Based Evaluation Better?Illustration 12-3: What to Do if Your Agency's Program Receives a Negative Evaluation.